The Suprise
by LorLikesGirls
Summary: A little fluff about Catherine with a CathWarrick pairing. R&R and enjoy!
1. Rubber duck

**The surprise.**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own CSI - blah-blah woof-woof.

Present day.

"Hey baby!" Catherine stood on her toes, leaned in and kissed Warrick. He wrapped his strong arms around the small blonde and held her for a second.

"Hey, some of us have gotta work here ya know!" Nick said as he walked through them. "Oh Catherine, Lindsey goes to Butterfield Academy right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You don't have their roster, do you? I gotta case & the Head won't give up the 'privacy policy'." He motioned with his fingers.

"Yeah, sure. I'll bring it in at lunch."

"Awh, Cath, you're a star."

Warrick watched as the sun danced on Catherine's blonde hair for a moment until the suns path was obscured. He looked up to be greeted by the stern sight of Gil Grissom.

"Shouldn't you all be at home? And shouldn't you be encouraging these guys to be working, not slacking off?" Girssom said, mentioning towards Cath's promotion to supervisor of the new swing shift team.

"Yeah, most of us are either pulling yet another double. Cath, how's your case..." Warrick turned back to realize he was talking to space; Catherine had rushed to the morgue to meet Doc Robbins.

2 weeks earlier...

"Hey, you know, this is right around where I found Lindsey."

"Really?"

"Yeah, when Eddie's car went off the road..." Catherine sighed and shook her head. "Let's get out of here."

Catherine tried to walk up the steep edge of the tunnel but slipped and fell.

"Woah, you okay?" Warrick smiled. Catherine turned and laughed.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She looked into his deep brown eyes, not realizing how beautiful they were. She was lost for a few seconds.

"Cath?" Warrick had obviously not realized what had happened.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." She jumped down and they walked the long way round.

Present Day

Back in the office, everyone was in their usual swing of things. Sara was walking around with a file in her hand, muttering away to herself about the case & Greg had some Marilyn Manson song blasting out of his boom-box, vaguely annoying other members of the CSI team. Cath walked along towards the break room. She couldn't help but wonder how all of this had become her life. Not that she minded, she loved it here. It was like the team was her family. Although, no-one had thanked or congratulated her on the promotion. It's not that she wanted it to change everything, but she had worked so hard since she got promoted. Not through choice of course, the sheer amount of paperwork was baffling not to mention the cases!

She walked into her office & shut the door behind her. Cath loved these moments in the day when she could be alone at work which was somewhat of a rarity these days. She sat in her leather chair which, of course, they did not provide; she brought it from home, one of those longed for comforts and let out a long sigh; she was tired, after having spent the night at Warrick's & not slept as much as she should…

Looking at her desk, she noticed a spot of colour out of the corner of her eye; it was a small, green rubber duck. It was the most out-of-place thing she had seen in her neat, minimalist office. She picked it up & wondered who had put it there, not to mention why! Surveying the creature, she realised there was something written on the underside. It read 'Meet me in the break room, G xx' Cath couldn't help but wonder who would plant a rubber duck in her office, but guessed it was Greg rather than Grissom.

Sauntering down the hall, Catherine pondered on what Greg had wanted & why he'd asked for her presence in such a wacky, unconventional way. Turning into the break room, Greg was sat on the couch with a grin plastered on his face. Cath sat beside him and smiled & nodded while he rambled on about the case they were working & how he had an experiment all hooked up in the courtyard since yesterday but he couldn't get hold of her hence the rubber duck.

"So, you wanna come & check it out?"

"Yeah, sure. Sounds like it could be relevant. Sort of…" As much as she loved the youngest member of her team, he had a terrible habit of wandering off topic when in conversation & so she had pretty much no idea what this experiment was about.

As they walked down towards the back door leading to the courtyard, they bumped into Warrick. Cath didn't hesitate to wrap her arms almost! around her lover.

"Where you two off to then?" Warrick asked, almost sounding worried.

"Just to the courtyard, Greg has some experiment set up. It's about our case."

"You can't." Warrick, usually a very strong, composed man, was now slightly swaying in the spot & looked nervous. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

"Why not?" Cath made her bedroom eyes at him, hoping to get the response she wanted.

"Erm, Grissom's doing something back there. He told me to tell Greg that his experiment's been moved to the empty yard at the other police base in Henderson."

"Henderson!" Cath was clearly not impressed. "That's not exactly the back yard, is it? Why would Gris do that?"

Warrick just shrugged. "I dunno babe. Don't shoot the messenger though."

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?"

Warrick shook his head. "No. I want us to be closer, not further apart."

Catherine grabbed Greg by the arm & led him out towards the parking lot, grabbing her coat on the way. In the car, she had her radio loud. And I mean window-rattling loud.

"I love this song!" Greg winced as Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot's intro chords strummed out of the speakers. For the entire journey to Henderson, Cath listened to _her_ choice of music in a bid to cheer herself up. She was upset, no, pissed off that she was being forced to drive into Henderson for reasons she wasn't entirely sure.

On arriving at the police base, she & Greg were shuffled in the direction of his experiment. In the yard, Cath was amazed to see a mass of buckets of paint, a rather large canvas & a step ladder on the floor. It turns out that Greg was on the right lines when he said that the killer had dumped a bucket of the victim's blood out of a window. The paint was all the right consistency to be used as make-shift blood & Greg had ordered it in neon pink, green orange & yellow. This cheered Catherine up immensely as she & Greg spent the next 2 hours dropping buckets from the step ladder and analysing the spatter Catherine's speciality. By the end of the hour, she & Greg's previously bright white body suits were covered from head to toe in a rainbow of neon paint.


	2. Pink Balloon

**Disclaimer: **I do not own CSI. Blah, blah, woof, woof.

Catherine & Greg fell to the group in a crumpled heap, giggling like school children & covered in paint.

"Ahem."

They turned to see the head Officer standing in the doorway into the building looking slightly confused to say the least.

"Sorry sir. It was just…" Greg stuttered as he tried to stand up on the canvas but fell straight back down on his ass. Cath couldn't help but burst into laughter yet again, leaving the PO even more confused and slightly angry.

"I hope you two know that you'll be cleaning this up when you're finished."

"Yes sir, no problem…" Greg turned to see that the doorway was now vacant.

An hour & many buckets of water later, the courtyard was finally restored to its prior glory. Almost. Still in a fit of giggles, Cath & Greg hastily ran back to the SUV to make an overdue escape out of Henderson & back to the lab. In the car, Cath wondered if Grissom had even noticed she was missing…

Back in her office, Cath was glad to be alone. As much fun as she had with Greg, she didn't quite seem to have as much energy as the young CSI. Speaking of energy, she was in desperate need of some coffee, so headed in the direction of the break-room. Pouring herself some coffee, she had presumed the room to be empty so was startled when she sat on the chair and a head popped up from the couch.

"Hey, sorry if I woke you; I thought this place was empty."

Sara rubbed her eyes; it was no surprise to Catherine or any of the team to find her sleeping on the couch. It was a well known fact that Sara Sidle barely slept to start with. "It's ok. I wasn't really sleeping anyway."

Cath realised this would be a perfect opportunity to find out what was up with everyone. "Hey, has Grissom been acting weird to you lately?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, I dunno, it just seems like no-one wants to talk to me or be seen with me in this place." Cath gestured at the surrounding walls of the building.

"That can't be right, everybody here loves you." As those words left her mouth, Sara received a page & dashed out the door with a haste 'Sorry' directed at Cath.

Cath had had enough of whoever was trying to leave her stranded on her own. She walked down to the DNA lab, but Greg was no-where to be seen. She spotted Warrick out the corner of her eye and started heading in that direction.

Planting a kiss on her younger lovers lips, she inhaled his musky smell to which she'd become so accustomed to.

"Hey!" Warrick seemed genuinely happy to see her which gave her butterflies in her stomach. She thought she might actually be in love again. They walked down the corridor, hand in hand like teenagers in high school. Brass called them over to talk to Warrick so Cath went to lean against the window when something pink caught her. She could see something floating up into the sky & was convinced it was a balloon. Warrick came over to her & wrapped his arms around her waist and rested a head on her shoulder.

"What's that?" Cath pointed at the balloon in the sky.

"Oh, it's nothing, probably a balloon some kid let go of." Warrick sounded slightly more edgy than he had before.

Cath, slightly angered at his tone of voice, grabbed Warrick's hand and started to march towards the door leading towards the courtyard.

"I wanna figure out what it was." Cath's inquisitive nature made her a great CSI but also really stubborn when something was nagging her.

"Nah babes, it doesn't matter. Come on." Warrick was desperately trying to drag the smaller but surprisingly strong woman away from the door.

Suddenly, out of what appeared to be nowhere, Greg appeared and captured Catherine's attention with something case-related. Warrick beamed as Cath giggled, obviously remembering her previous escapades with Greg & paint. As Cath walked back to the lab, Warrick grabbed Greg's arm.

"Hey, thanks, man. I woulda been screwed if you hadn't come along & diverted her attention."

"It… It's no prob." Greg was confused as to why he was being thanked, but just shrugged it off as relationship troubles and followed the older CSI into the DNA lab.

Cath stood, wondering why Warrick had shaken her comments off like that. She thought Warrick really liked her. They'd only been dating for a few months, but it was pretty serious; I mean, he practically lived with her & Lindsey. She loved him! She wandered off in a daydream of memories, not realising Greg was having a full conversation with her.

"So, what do you think?" Greg said & motioned to the fingerprint scan running through AFIS on the computer screen.

"Erm, yeah?" Cath had no idea what he was talking about.

"Hey, are you & Warrick alright? 'Cause he thanked me before but I'm not entirely sure why…" Greg's sentence trailed off when he saw how pale Cath's face had gone. "Sorry if I hit a nerve there. I was just worried about you." The lab rat's sincerity made Cath smile a little.

"Yeah, we're fine. Or at least I thought we were. He seems shifty & on edge when he's around me but I've seen him with Nick & he seems fine with him." Greg came & put a protective arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Thanks." Cath smiled at Greg. This made him nervous; it was no secret in the lab that he had a crush on the older woman. "Don't worry 'bout me. I'll just take a break; sit in the break room for 20 minutes, have some coffee. I'll be fine."

Sitting with a warm cup of coffee in the break room, Catherine felt no better. In fact the crappy coffee had just made her feel worse. She looked up & would've sworn she saw Grissom sneak past, not wanting her to see him. She was convinced that lack of sleep was causing her to think the other CSI's were plotting a conspiracy theory against her. Although, the only people who had actually had a conversation with her today were Warrick, generally because she woke up next to him this morning the way most mornings started & Greg because he was on a case with her. She poured the coffee down the sink & went to lie down on the couch which Sara no longer was occupying. Lying there, for the first time since she got her promotion, she wished she were anywhere BUT here.


	3. Pinata

She was somewhere between awake and asleep when the door of the break room slammed and startled her. No surprise to Cath, it was due to someone leaving rather than entering. She was really starting to wonder why people on her own team were avoiding her…

"Hey…" Cath chased after Grissom, who had just previously left the break room. She turned a corner and he had disappeared, which wasn't unusual for Grissom.

Cath went to look for Greg to see if he had made any progress on the case. She wasn't holding her breath.

"Heeeeyyyy!" Greg came out of the break room and swooped Cath in the direction she just came from. "What you doing, sneaking around?"

"I... I wasn't. It's just so empty. Where is everyone?"

"Well, Sara is down in the Morgue with Doc Robbins. But I have no idea where everyone else has disappeared to!" Greg lied convincingly.

"Oh, let's go to the lab and analyse that paint spatter." Cath seemed to be pleased with Greg's explanation and followed him happily.

"So, what was so urgent about my case that caused you to page me 5 times in less than 2 minutes?" Catherine asked the smiling Doc Robbins. Cath could sense that there was something he wasn't telling her but she didn't have time to mess around.

"Well, you told me the victim was single & lived alone, yes?"

"Yeah, why?" Cath was clearly agitated, fidgeting with the hem of her white shirt.

"The results of her SART kit came back positive for semen."

"Have you sent the results to Greg?" Cath looked hopeful about her case for the first time since her shift started.

"I'm 3 steps ahead of you; I think he may have the results for you..." He turned to see the door swinging.

Catherine practically ran from the morgue to the DNA lab for these results. She swung open the door to find that Greg had gone but left her a note reading 'Gone out back with Grissom for some experiment. Need help x'

"Shit!" Cath cursed out loud, she really needed the results soon so she could wrap this case up & go home. After all, Lindsey would be back from school in an hour or two & she wanted to be there to greet her, having not seen her daughter in what felt like forever. Cath headed for the back yard of the CSI base. Walking past the ballistics lab, she realised, the place was almost empty, particularly unusual for this time of the day...

"SURPRISE!" There they were, her whole team with Lindsay. All in party hats with streamers and balloons decorating the courtyard. Cath didn't know what to do. She thought they'd all forgotten about her promotion.

Warrick and Lindsay bounded up to Cath, who seemed to be frozen to the spot, and enveloped her in an enormous bear hug.

"I don't know what to say…"

"How about thanks for the awesome party?" Warrick joked.

They went over to the table which everyone else was gathered around. There was a cake with Cath's picture on saying 'Congratulations' and punch and pizza; Cath's favourites.

"Guys, I thought you'd forgotten!" A huge smile spread across Catherine's face, illuminating it.

"How could we? It was hard enough work getting rid of you for a few hours to set this all up!" Grissom laughed.

Sara and Nick brought out a Twister mat and they all played. Sara won, being the most flexible and having the longest limbs. They played other childhood party games such as pin the tail on Ecklie and ended the fun with a piñata.

"I can't reach!" Cath shouted as she swung a baseball bat wildly above her head, 2 feet to the left of her target. Warrick slid his hands around her waist and pulled her under the piñata. One heavy swing was all it took and it burst open, spilling candies and streamers onto the courtyard floor. She took off her blindfold and sunk to her knees to look at her new found treasure. Everyone was now around her, collecting candy. Something glinted in the sunlight and caught her eye. She shuffled on her knees past Greg and picked it up. Her mouth fell open.

"Well, don't you like it?" Warrick said, his lips curving up into a smile.

"I…" Cath was lost for words. Warrick started to worry. Had he made a mistake? Was it too soon?

"I love it. I love you!" Cath wrapped her arms around Warrick's neck and he spun her around. He put her down and pulled Lindsay into the embrace.

"Honey, are you OK with all this?" Cath asked, suddenly aware of everyone around them.

"Are you kidding Mom? I helped him pick it!" She grinned and hugged Cath.

"Aren't you gonna do this officially?" Cath winked at Warrick. He got down on one knee.

"Catherine Willows, will you marry me?"

"Yes!"

Everyone gathered around them and Greg popped open a bottle of champagne. There was the clinking of glasses and the chatter of her workmates. Everyone was in good spirits and Catherine wished she could live in this moment forever.


End file.
